VectorLens Angular Selection of Curves inside Two dimensional Thick Visualizations

Cloudina is a globally distributed Ediacaran metazoan, with a tubular, funnel-in-funnel form built of thin laminae (ca. 1-10 μm). To what degree local environmental controlled morphology, and whether early diagenesis controlled the degree of calcification of Cloudina, is debated. Here we test these hypotheses by considering assemblages from four, coeval localities from the Upper Omkyk Member, Nama Group, Namibia, from inner ramp to mid-ramp reef across the Zaris Subbasin. We show that sinuosity of the Cloudina tube is variable between sites, as is the relative thickness of the tube wall, suggesting these features were environmentally controlled. Walls are thickest in high-energy reef settings, and thinnest in the low-energy, inner ramp. While local diagenesis controls preservation, all diagenetic expressions are consistent with the presence of weakly calcified, organic-rich laminae, and lamina thicknesses are broadly constant. Finally, internal 'cements' within Cloudina are found in all sites, and pre-date skeletal breakage, transport, as well as syn-sedimentary botryoidal cement precipitation. Best preservation shows these to be formed by fine, pseudomorphed aragonitic acicular crystals. Sr concentrations and Mg/Ca show no statistically significant differences between internal Cloudina cements and botryoidal cements, but we infer all internal cements to have precipitated when Cloudina was still in-situ and added considerable mechanical strength, but may have formed post-mortem or in abandoned parts of the skeleton.The transcriptional repressor Rev-erbα is known to down-regulate fatty acid metabolism and gluconeogenesis gene expression. In animal models, disruption of Rev-erbα results in global changes in exercise performance, oxidative capacity, and blood glucose levels. However, the complete extent to which Rev-erbα-mediated transcriptional repression of metabolism impacts cell function remains unknown. We hypothesized that loss of Rev-erbα in a mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) model would result in global changes in metabolism. MEFs lacking Rev-erbα exhibited a hypermetabolic phenotype, demonstrating increased levels of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. Rev-erbα deletion increased expression of hexokinase II, transketolase, and ribose-5-phosphate isomerase genes involved in glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and these effects were not mediated by the transcriptional activator BMAL1. Upregulation of oxidative phosphorylation was not accompanied by an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis or numbers. Rev-erbα repressed proliferation via glycolysis, but not the PPP. When treated with H2O2, cell viability was reduced in Rev-erbα knockout MEFs, accompanied by increased ratio of oxidized/reduced NADPH, suggesting that perturbation of the PPP reduces capacity to mount an antioxidant defense. These findings uncover novel mechanisms by which glycolysis and the PPP are modulated through Rev-erbα, and provide new insights into how Rev-erbα impacts proliferation.We tested the feasibility of pulmonary vein (PV) and left atrial (LA) posterior wall isolation using non-invasive stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) and investigated pathological changes in irradiated lesions in a canine model. Seven male Mongrel dogs received single-fraction 33 Gy SABR. We designed the en-bloc circular target of total PVs and LA posterior wall to avoid the esophagus. The circular box lesion included the LA roof and ridge, low posterior wall, and posterior interatrial septum. At 6 weeks or 4 months post-SABR, electrical isolation of the SABR lesion was confirmed using LA posterior wall pacing, and histopathological review was performed. Wortmannin chemical structure Electrical isolation of all PVs and the LA posterior wall was achieved in three of five dogs in the 4-month group. There was one target failure and one sudden death at 15 weeks. Although two dogs in the 6-week group failed to achieve electrical lesion isolation, the irradiated atrial myocardium showed diffuse hemorrhage with inflammatory cell infiltration. In successfully isolated 4-month model dogs, we observed transmural fibrotic scarring with extensive fibrosis on irradiated atrial tissue. The findings suggest that this novel circular box-design radiotherapy technique using SABR could be applied to humans after further studies are conducted to confirm safety.In this work, we demonstrate, through first-principles calculations, the existence of a new family of copper-based MXenes. These add up new structures to the previously reported universe and span the interest of such 2D materials for applications in heterogeneous catalysis, ion-based batteries, sensors, biomedical applications, and so on. First, we propose the MXene-like structures Cu2N, Cu2C, and Cu2O. Phonon spectra calculations confirmed their dynamical stability by showing just positive frequencies all through the 2D Brillouin zone. The new MXenes family displays metallic characteristics, mainly induced by the Cu-3d orbitals. Bader charge analysis and charge density differences depict bonds with ionic character in which Cu is positively charged, and the non-metal atom gets an anionic character. Also, we investigate the functionalization of the proposed structures with Cl, F, O, and OH groups. Results show that the H3 site is the most favorable for functionalization. In all cases, the non-magnetic nature and metallic properties of the pristine MXenes remain. Our results lay the foundations for the experimental realization of a new MXenes family.This study aimed to evaluate the acute effects of 2.856 GHz and 1.5 GHz microwaves on spatial memory and cAMP response element binding (CREB)-related pathways. A total of 120 male Wistar rats were divided into four groups a control group (C); 2.856 GHz microwave exposure group (S group); 1.5 GHz microwave exposure group (L group); and 2.856 and 1.5 GHz cumulative exposure group (SL group). Decreases in spatial memory abilities, changes in EEG, structural injuries, and the downregulation of phosphorylated-Ak strain transforming (p-AKT), phosphorylated-calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (p-CaMKII), phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (p-ERK) and p-CREB was observed 6 h after microwave exposure. Significant differences in the expression of p-CaMKII were found between the S and L groups. The power amplitudes of the EEG waves (θ, δ), levels of structural injuries and the expression of p-AKT, p-CaMK II, p-CREB, and p-ERK1/2 were significantly different in the S and L groups compared to the SL group. Interaction effects between the 2.856 and 1.5 GHz microwaves were found in the EEG and p-CREB changes. Our findings indicated that 2.856 GHz and 1.5 GHz microwave exposure induced a decline in spatial memory, which might be related to p-AKT, p-CaMK II, p-CREB and p-ERK1/2.Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) significantly limits the safety of intravenous parenteral nutrition (PN). Critically ill infants are highly vulnerable to PNAC-related morbidity and mortality, however the impact of hepatic immaturity on PNAC is poorly understood. We examined developmental differences between fetal/infant and adult livers, and used human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells (iHLC) to gain insights into the contribution of development to altered sterol metabolism and PNAC. We used RNA-sequencing and computational techniques to compare gene expression patterns in human fetal/infant livers, adult liver, and iHLC. We identified distinct gene expression profiles between the human feta/infant livers compared to adult liver, and close resemblance of iHLC to human developing livers. Compared to adult, both developing livers and iHLC had significant downregulation of xenobiotic, bile acid, and fatty acid metabolism; and lower expression of the sterol metabolizing gene ABCG8. When challenged with stigmasterol, a plant sterol found in intravenous soy lipids, lipid accumulation was significantly higher in iHLC compared to adult-derived HepG2 cells. Our findings provide insights into altered bile acid and lipid metabolizing processes in the immature human liver, and support the use of iHLC as a relevant model system of developing liver to study lipid metabolism and PNAC.Metabolic and bioenergetic plasticity of immune cells is essential for optimal responses to bacterial infections. AMPK and Parkin ubiquitin ligase are known to regulate mitochondrial quality control mitophagy that prevents unwanted inflammatory responses. However, it is not known if this evolutionarily conserved mechanism has been coopted by the host immune defense to eradicate bacterial pathogens and influence post-sepsis immunosuppression. Parkin, AMPK levels, and the effects of AMPK activators were investigated in human leukocytes from sepsis survivors as well as wild type and Park2-/- murine macrophages. In vivo, the impact of AMPK and Parkin was determined in mice subjected to polymicrobial intra-abdominal sepsis and secondary lung bacterial infections. Mice were treated with metformin during established immunosuppression. We showed that bacteria and mitochondria share mechanisms of autophagic killing/clearance triggered by sentinel events that involve depolarization of mitochondria and recruitment of Parkin in macrophages. Parkin-deficient mice/macrophages fail to form phagolysosomes and kill bacteria. This impairment of host defense is seen in the context of sepsis-induced immunosuppression with decreased levels of Parkin. AMPK activators, including metformin, stimulate Parkin-independent autophagy and bacterial killing in leukocytes from post-shock patients and in lungs of sepsis-immunosuppressed mice. Our results support a dual role of Parkin and AMPK in the clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria and killing of pathogenic bacteria, and explain the immunosuppressive phenotype associated Parkin and AMPK deficiency. AMPK activation appeared to be a crucial therapeutic target for the macrophage immunosuppressive phenotype and to reduce severity of secondary bacterial lung infections and respiratory failure.In this paper, a new powerful deep learning framework, named as DENTECT, is developed in order to instantly detect five different dental treatment approaches and simultaneously number the dentition based on the FDI notation on panoramic X-ray images. This makes DENTECT the first system that focuses on identification of multiple dental treatments; namely periapical lesion therapy, fillings, root canal treatment (RCT), surgical extraction, and conventional extraction all of which are accurately located within their corresponding borders and tooth numbers. Although DENTECT is trained on only 1005 images, the annotations supplied by experts provide satisfactory results for both treatment and enumeration detection. This framework carries out enumeration with an average precision (AP) score of 89.4% and performs treatment identification with a 59.0% AP score. Clinically, DENTECT is a practical and adoptable tool that accelerates the process of treatment planning with a level of accuracy which could compete with that of dental clinicians.Patient-ventilator asynchrony (PVA) is commonly encountered during mechanical ventilation of critically ill patients. Estimates of PVA incidence vary widely. Type, risk factors, and consequences of PVA remain unclear. We aimed to measure the incidence and identify types of PVA, characterize risk factors for development, and explore the relationship between PVA and outcome among critically ill, mechanically ventilated adult patients admitted to medical, surgical, and medical-surgical intensive care units in a large academic institution staffed with varying provider training background. A single center, retrospective cohort study of all adult critically ill patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation for ≥ 12 h. A total of 676 patients who underwent 696 episodes of mechanical ventilation were included. Overall PVA occurred in 170 (24%) episodes. Double triggering 92(13%) was most common, followed by flow starvation 73(10%). A history of smoking, and pneumonia, sepsis, or ARDS were risk factors for overall PVA and double triggering (all P  less then  0.